Ahluwalia appears before ED

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 2

Subhash Ahluwalia, Principal Private Secretary to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, finally appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today.

He was summoned by the ED earlier twice on April 22 and June 22 for questioning in connection with the alleged money-laundering charges faced by him but he sought time due to some pre-occupations.

However, Ahluwalia who had been issued the notice under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, appeared at the ED and was questioned by sleuths of the directorate regarding money transactions abroad, including payment of fees of children who were studying abroad, details of his bank accounts and some other relevant documents.

The Enforcement Directorate also gave him a questionnaire in a prescribed form and asked him to fill it in detail. However, Ahluwalia reportedly told that the cases had already been scrutinised by the Income Tax Separtment and he would furnish the information sought by the ED.

Ahluwalia, a 1989-batch IAS officer, who retired in 2012 was appointed as Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister in early 2013 after the formation of the Congress government. He earlier remained private secretary to Virbhadra Singh during the previous term from 2003 to 2007.

He had come under the ED scanner for allegedly acquiring assets, both movable and immovable, and the foreign remittances received by him from his children living in the US had also been probed.